Row, Row, Row Your Boat

‘Row office’ candidates are swimming against the political stream

Do you recognize any of these names: Joe Peters, Jack Wagner, Craige Pepper? Perhaps you’ve heard the names of Tom Corbett or Jim Eisenhower?

All of the above, along with the more well-known Robert P. Casey, Jr., are candidates for statewide office on November second. That’s right, this November second – just a few days from now. And they are important offices too: State Treasurer, Auditor General, and Attorney General. Unless you are a dedicated political junkie, even if you have heard of all these people, you probably know very little about them.

Most likely you’ll recognize Robert P. Casey, Jr., son of the former governor, a gubernatorial candidate himself two years ago, and two-term Auditor General of Pennsylvania. Auditors General in Pennsylvania are limited to two terms, so Casey is running for State Treasurer. The incumbent State Treasurer, Barbara Hafer, is term limited herself, so the seat is open. Casey faces Republican Craige Pepper. She’s a financial advisor from Erie, Pennsylvania. Whoever wins will invest billions of our tax dollars and make crucial financial decisions affecting the future of our commonwealth.

With incumbent Auditor General Casey running for State Treasurer, that leaves his job open too. Jack Wagner’s name should ring a bell. He is a State Senator from Allegheny County who was Casey’s running mate for Lt. Governor in the 2002 gubernatorial election. His Republican opponent is Joe Peters, a former street cop, deputy Pennsylvania Attorney General, and assistant in the White House drug czar’s office. Whoever is elected to this job will be we the taxpayers’ chief watchdog over the state treasury. That sure sounds important to me.

Surely you’ve heard of Tom Corbett. He actually served as Pennsylvania Attorney General back in the mid 1990s after Ernie Preate, Jr. resigned the post. He’s the Republican candidate for the open Attorney General’s seat. That post is open because Attorney General Mike Fisher resigned last year to become a Federal judge. His replacement, Jerry Pappert, was confirmed to the post only by agreeing not to run for a full term. Corbett will face Democrat Jim Eisenhower. That name should be familiar too, because Eisenhower was the Democrat nominee against Fisher four year ago. The Attorney General is the state’s top law enforcement officer. That’s a big job.

Known as the state’s constitutional or “row offices,” State Treasurer, Auditor General, and Attorney General are three highly significant, powerful, and vital posts to the operation of state government. You would think their campaigns would be receiving massive news coverage replete with debates, headlines, and lengthy features on the six o’clock news. If you thought that, you’d be wrong. The fact is these six highly qualified and accomplished individuals have gotten next to no attention in campaigns that for most have been ongoing for the past two years. And, except for voter guides and one perfunctory newspaper “profile,” you are likely not going to hear much more about them.

That’s because we elect statewide “row officers” in the wrong year. At a time when the President of the United States, usually a U.S. Senator, Congressmen, State Senators and State Representatives are on the ballot the competition for media coverage and voter attention is just too intense for these offices to be given the consideration they deserve.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly should change the state constitution to move election of these offices to the following year. There are no national or even statewide offices to be elected next year (although usually there are statewide appellate court races in the odd-numbered years). If these three offices were on the ballot next year they would be the featured races and those seeking them would be political headliners. They might also even help drive up voter turn-out in historically low interest “off-year” elections.

The ballot this year is just too long and contains too many important offices. The time has come to shift elections for State Treasurer, Auditor General, and Attorney General to the following year so they can get the attention they deserve.